Later that night

  Ash was nervously pacing around her apartment, not sure what to do with herself. Once they docked, she left John's ship and immediately came back home and took a cold shower. She got changed into her pyjamas and tried to rex, but she couldn't get him off her mind. She then tried to distract herself with some reading, but she couldn't sit down without pain shooting through her ass, so she started to pace instead. She kept reflecting on the events that happened in John's cockpit that afternoon, after the Captain had actually called her bluff when she challenged him, and the consequences of her actions.

  I thought he would have kissed me, maybe fondled my breasts again, and we would have made out. Then I would have asked him to hire me, then we could have cuddled in his command chair while we floated among the stars. It would have been a tender, passionate moment, something I have dreamed about for over fifty years now. Instead, he blinded me, pinned me down and spanked my ass until it was tender. That wasn't the tender moment I was dreaming about!

  She rubbed her ass again, trying to comfort her bruised bottom. All she managed to do was turn herself on even more, remembering how he effortlessly manhandled her.

  Why did I like that so much! I thought I wanted to be the dominant one in a retionship!

  She flopped down on her bed, keeping her ass in the air while she buried her head into her pillow. She reached over to her nightstand to pull her vibrator out, but stopped before she even opened the drawer. He told her she wasn't allowed to touch herself, not until he said she could.

  "This is stupid. Why am I listening to him?" She said, then reached over again for her favourite toy. For some reason, she couldn't bring herself to open the drawer. As much as she wanted to relieve herself, she didn't want to disobey his directions. She just wanted to please him.

  That thought sent a cold shiver down her spine. "By the World Tree... did he imprint on me? No, no, no... this wasn't supposed to happen, not like this!" She said, then buried herself into her pillow.

  "Damn it, Tanya. You knew I would do something like this, didn't you!" She said, trying to toss the bme for her situation on her friend, but it didn't stick. She knew it was no one's fault but her own.

  "I need to go to an Auto-Doc, ASAP. I need to cure myself of this before it is too te!" She said, standing up again. She would take a walk over to the hospital and get this cleared up, then they could return to normal.

  She started to get dressed again, but stopped when she was naked in front of her full-length mirror. She almost didn't recognise the woman in the reflection. Her face looked both flushed and content, a broad smile on her face. She twisted her body so she could view her bruised bottom, her cheeks a deep rose colour, turning almost purple in pces.

  "You're not allowed to get any healing on your ass." She said, repeating John's words. She found herself not wanting to go to the Auto-Doc now, not until he told her that she was allowed to.

  "We are not husband and wife! He doesn't have anything to do with my life! Why am I listening to him?" She said to her reflection, almost in tears.

  It stared back at her a moment, then opened its mouth. "It is too te, Princess Ashellivaillian Delca Savlian. You pyed with fire and got burned. Don't pretend that this isn't what you wanted ever since you got on board his ship."

  "No, it wasn't supposed to be this way." She said again, this time with much less conviction.

  "Go to him and expin everything, bare your soul to him. If he doesn't accept you afterwards, then return home and accept your fate. Maybe they will let you py soldier as Katrina does."

  She just stared at her reflection, tears forming in her eyes. She continued to have this mental argument with herself long into the night, finally passing out on her bed instead of visiting the hospital. In the end, Ashellivaillian Delca Savlian, the third princess of the elven nation of Twi'ellian, the protectors of the Central regions of the Empire, couldn't bring herself to go back to John and tell him how she felt.

  Maybe she was the coward all along.

  Four days ter

  John woke up with Niki in his arms yet again. They were both wearing pyjamas, and no accidents had occurred since they began this sleeping arrangement. Niki hadn't pushed to take care of his needs again, the Neko beginning to understand that he wasn't going to abandon her because she didn't have sex with him.

  The st few days went by in a whirlwind. They would do physical training in the gym early in the morning, then, after a shower, they would study. She would be working on the package Jahred sent from the guild, along with familiarising herself with the Phoenix Hawk's systems, while he would read his spell tomes. The magic study was going much faster than he expected. The short time he worked with Evie back in The Great Cleric provided him with the foundation he needed to manipute mana easily. He had mastered all the tomes he had received from Galba, other than the fireball spell. He still couldn't get the barrier spell to work properly, but it would come.

  In the afternoons, Serena would arrive at the ship, and they would head out into space somewhere to train. Sometimes Tanya and Chris came with her, other times she was alone. He would continue to work on his gunnery skills while she was out training, and Niki would power down some of the Phoenix Hawks weapons to shoot in her general direction to help with her training.

  In the evenings, he would leave the ship and make his way over to the hospital. He would heal patients under the supervision of Doctor Estra, the naga still flirting with him nonstop. He wasn't sure what Niki was doing when he was out, though sometimes Ash, Tanya, and Chris would come to visit her. They would be gone before he returned, so he hadn't had a chance to talk with Ash about what had happened the other day. It wasn't something he wanted to do over a text message.

  Though I think she is avoiding me.

  They also discovered where Greg had disappeared to. The man had taken a job with some miners in a different system, so he didn't have to deal with his sister's wrath. He wasn't due back until the night before Serena's race, which did nothing to cool his sister's anger; it just allowed it to grow and fester a deeper resentment for him. Tanya and Chris had sent John several messages about it, the pair of them wanting to chase him down and confront him. Chris was adamant that she was done with his bullshit and wouldn't do any more work for him ever again.

  Today, though, he had received a message from Katrina, letting him know she was free tonight if he still wanted to take her out for supper. Niki also wanted to go to the guild and use their simutors instead of staying cooped up on board the ship. He could understand that. He didn't let her leave without him in case the gangs were still after her. When he went to the hospital, he stayed in the main corridors instead of trying to take shortcuts in case they were after him as well.

  He also wanted to stop by the guild to discuss with Jahred about hiring mercenaries and to talk with Tim. He hoped the Not-God would be able to answer a few more questions he had about this world.

  He extracted himself from the bed, letting Niki continue to sleep, and got dressed in his leathers. On a whim, he put on the spiked shoulder pad Alec had added to his ensemble, completing the post-apocalyptic look. He popped a pill and then headed down to the galley to assemble breakfast for Niki and himself.

  He was enjoying giving her breakfast in bed every morning. Her reactions were adorable.

  When he arrived on the deck with the galley, his link vibrated, showing him that someone was requesting to enter the ship. He checked the camera and was surprised that Ash was at the hatch. He walked over and opened the hatch himself, curious at what she was doing here at this hour.

  "Good Morning, Ash. What can I do for you this early?" He said, then looked her over. She was in her white flight suit, but her hair was a mess, and there were deep bags under her eyes. She looked nearly as bad as Niki did when he rescued her.

  "John... Captain... can I come in? I need to speak with you." She said, her normally pyful demeanour non-existent. She sounded resigned, like she had to do something she didn't want to do.

  "Sure. I am just getting some breakfast. Would you like to join me?" He asked her, stepping back from the hatch to let her in.

  "That... that would be good, thank you." She replied, then when she tried to step inside, she tripped over the hatch combing.

  "Easy. I got you." He said, catching her in his arms. She folded her body into his embrace, sighing deeply.

  "John... I need... I need... Can you carry me, please?" She said, and promptly passed out. He scooped her up and brought her up to his cabin.

  Niki was awake and getting dressed when they walked in, putting on her matching bck leather clothing again. "What happened to Ash?" She asked, concerned about her friend.

  "I have no idea. She showed up and asked to come in, then immediately passed out in my arms. She looked like she was extremely exhausted, but said she needed to talk to me about something." He replied, ying her down on the bed. He cast a healing spell on her, but other than her obvious exhaustion, there was nothing wrong with her. "I think she just needs some sleep. Come, let's leave her be. I'll leave her a message to come find us when she wakes up."

  "I see. I know she was looking a bit haunted the st time I saw her a couple of days ago, but she wouldn't say anything to me about it. I wonder what happened?" Niki said. She was running through all the interactions she had with Ash over the st few days, and the only thing that came to mind was whatever she and John had talked about. She wasn't going to say anything about that, since it was apparently a private conversation between them.

  They left her in the room and continued with their day. Ash herself didn't wake up for a long time, but she unconsciously pulled John's pillow in close, a contented look forming on her face.

  INP Operations Centre - Katrina's Office

  Katrina sighed deeply, going through yet another set of reports from a nearby system. Javarian activity was increasing, with their scouts reporting a buildup of bioships on the other side of their border. It wasn't yet at a critical mass, but it was just a matter of time.

  As Lieutenant Commander Eligan, these reports were not her concern; her superiors assigned her to deal with pirate operations rather than a possible incursion from the bugs. However, as Lady Eligan, she needed to be aware of the impending hostilities that were bearing down on the region.

  It was frankly exhausting.

  She put the file down and stared out her window, her office having a good view of the INP dockyard below. She could see the thirty ships that were now nominally under her command, along with over eighty fighters. It was only a small drop in the bucket of the INP force they had in Parrax currently, but even with the five hundred vessels of frigate size or rger they had, they would be easily overrun if the Javarian's got serious.

  She had sent a message to her father days ago, asking him to look into John, but hadn't received a reply yet. It was beginning to worry her. Now with the bugs starting to build up as well, she felt the need to send him a report on the situation here, one that was not downpyed for the sake of political games her superiors might be pying.

  She picked up another report, one that came directly to her from Casandra, her head of security. She had been shadowing John while he was visiting the hospital in the evenings. She had acquired a hacked copy of security footage taken from when Doctor Estra and John were discussing his 'Memory Loss'.

  She drummed her fingers on the table as she watched the footage again, confirming that he was indeed something other than he was pretending to be. Once it finished, she pulled up the list of impnts in his head, whistling softly at both the quality and quantity of gear he owned.

  Accelerated Learning, Accelerated Reflex, Chrono Dition Augmentation, Rapid Regeneration, Adrenal Overload, Parallel Mind, Small Arms Augmentation, Martial Maneuvering, Starship Neural Link, Total Recall Augment, Mobile Knight Augment, and Harem Master.They were all things either a royal or high-level noble like her father might have installed, though not all of them. The Chrono Dition was easily the most expensive and powerful augment, followed closely by Parallel Mind. When you totalled the whole list, it would cost nearly six billion GSC to have them installed. Not many people in the empire had that kind of money to use just for impnts.

  She was going out on a date with him tonight, and Katrina hoped to get more information from him. She hoped he would provide it freely, but she would not push it. She was patient; she would eventually get the truth out of him.

  Casandra also reported that Ashveillian, Tay'ana'telia, and Chris'letian'iva were all close to him now. While they acted rough around the edges, the Princess and two high nobles who were hiding here in Parrax were no slouches when it came to investigations either. She was sure they were also looking into him. She should call them soon for a meeting so they could compare notes.

  So what should I wear tonight when I meet this runaway royal? Something refined, or maybe something a little risqué? I wonder where he will take me, not that there are many fancy pces here on the Third Ring. Should I see about giving him limited access to the other Rings? No, not yet. I need to figure out exactly who he is first before I give him those rights.

  Katrina put the data on John away, then started work on a report for her father about the Javarian's. He needed an unbiased opinion to make a sound judgment on what forces to send out here. After all, it was one of the reasons he allowed her to come out to the frontier to begin with.